Journey To The Heartland
A retreat in the Sinai Desert.
An exploration of Fire and Earth elements.
In our modern-day world our relationship with fire lacks intimacy and understanding. Few of us use a fire for everyday cooking or warmth. If we did, we would know that a ‘hot’ fire is not piled high with logs.
To get consistent, effective heat, we need an intimate attention. The fire is ‘happier’ when not over loaded and constantly fed with fuel (our bodies are the same). When we experience this with our being it translates into a deep understanding of how to feed and pay attention to ourselves. We pay attention to our actual appetite and not the pervasive longing/hunger that comes from lack of attending to what’s so.
The consistency of the sun and its heat in the Sinai give us an ideal backdrop to explore this relationship. We will also be engaging with ancient fire lighting kits for a primary experience of creating a flame. We will explore this in the context of igniting and sustaining a living passion for life.
If the Sun (Fire Element) is the backdrop for our journey the Earth, Sands and Rock of the desert are its foundation (Earth Element)
When we are able to distinguish appetite from longing, we are able to experience sustenance, when this is sustained, we can bodily trust in life – then we can begin to be here.
By practicing a 3 day fast (either Traditional – eating after sunset; or Complete – Water only) we allow the systems of the body to rest and for the processes of integration and absorption, nourishment to move from the material/mechanical to the energetic and dimensional. We are able to distinguish nourishment on its more expanded definition.
For us to ‘feel’ nourished by and for life we need to pay attention to the sources of nutrition that encompass far more than the Physical ‘meal-time’ Food. By resting the physiological function of the digestive system we facilitate the digestion of our greater life and so are able to experience being nourished.
Even that which at first seems bitter or unpalatable can be Food.
We will also distinguish an apparent need for food (the Habit of ‘Hunger’) from a genuine appetite.
This is the space in which we will also explore moving in this vast spaciousness that also envelopes us tenderly and closely.
Date: 5th to 12th November 2009
Location: Sinai Desert, Egypt
This is the view from the retreat basecamp
